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Witnesses
Helena Ditko
Parish Council Member & Catechist, San Fernando Region, CA,
February 4, 2025

The Church embodies the work of the people that need support and healing. God’s people deserve and desperately need the support and healing ministries of the Church amidst their suffering.

There are times in which women need other women for support and healing. Women also have a genius that compliments men in our church leadership to be the best they can be that is currently missing.

I want to support women who feel the call to become deacons in the Church. Opening the dialogue helps begin a conversation and furthers education on the role of the diaconate.

My experience of call has been one ministry jump to another over many years, perhaps by God’s design to bring me to this point of my life. Recently I began classes at for pastoral ministry, hoping to retire into a ministerial job in a few years. Being challenged by professors and classmates has been such a joyful time, and discerning my call for this phase of my life has opened me to many new and exciting possibilities. Exactly how I will be serving God and the people of God will gradually be revealed to me, once again, as is familiar, so I am listening. Learning about Discerning Deacons was God opening another door for me to explore.

I had never considered the diaconate for myself, but the same is true of my vocational exploration of monastic life, motherhood, married life, and the single life. God has a marvelous plan in all things and whether or not I am called to the diaconate, my service to God and God’s people will always continue. Discerning is a process that always comes with change.

Holy Spirit Comforter, Jesus the Son by your Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection, and Father, Creator of all things visible and invisible, guide your people along this path of life toward your desires for us to become one and holy. We come together as you are the Trinity in faith and hope, that you provide all things in due season. Continue to give us your grace, your peace, your healing comfort, and all the gifts we might need for this journey. Amen.

Witness
“And when I get antsy waiting, as I often do, I remember the women I met who showed me that the ‘not yet’ is an “already.” Women deacons have existed and continue to exist. Someday, I may be one of them.“
Julia D’Agostino, MDiv
Theology Student, ThM Candidate
Witness
“I have not given a thought about becoming a deacon, but would consider the possibility if asked to become a deacon. Ultimately, I know and feel strongly that the presence of women ministerially can have a profound impact on the Church.”
Kathy Herrington
Lector and Community Minister, Northbrook, IL
Witness
“In my 47-years of ministry, I was the only person some women told of their abortion, a person others asked for guidance about issues of fertility, marriage, children, family life, in-laws, etc. This trust being honored and uplifted by the Church through the inclusion of women in the diaconate would be profoundly significant. I would be proud to be a deacon to embrace both my own calling and to be a part of greater change.”
Dr. Denise Mack
Rochester, NY, Ignatian Spiritual Exercises Prayer Guide and Lay Preaching Organizer

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This is the hub where we share relevant news, events and opportunities to participate in the work. 
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